Saturday, December 5, 2015


THOR #165 was released when the U.S.A. was divided by the Vietnam War. Was it plotter Lee, penciler Kirby or inker Colletta that put the footprints of the American chicken on the uniforms of the soldiers?


  1. This was the infamous two part Pluto-Him parademon storyline. I would think Kirby was getting fed up with Lee and the interuption to the Galactus storyline, so he might have done it...but because it doesn't fit the story, I suspect someone else's Colleta, or someone ghosting for them. Somehow I can't see Kirby doing this. He was saluting the soldiers, paying them tribute. The peace sign doesn't fit that.

  2. The Peace symbol was originally designed as a symbol for nuclear disarmament that was first worn on a march to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment in Berkshire in England in the late 1950s. The Thor story in #165 segues from a battle that takes place within a time warp created around a government building, where Pluto commands an army of post nuclear war "mutates". The gateway building was referred to as The Atomic Research Center.( Hidden in the depths of the building is the inert cocoon of Him, later called Warlock.)

    I don't think the insignia were simple mischief. Kirby was pro-military, but I've read that he was anti-Vietnam. It is possible to be both. His concern about the possibility of Nuclear War (which haunted America during this period) can be traced back to the Duke of Broadway and as far ahead as Kamandi.